GSP Web Content List

Oceans play a fundamental role in sustaining life on our planet. Apart from being central in regulating Earth's climate, oceans provide food and other goods to humans and animals, as well as shipping routes for transport of goods and people.

A major problem is related to the rapidly increasing amount of waste found in our oceans, referred to as "marine litter". Marine litter affects not only wildlife and habitats, but it also has considerable economic impacts on coastal communities, tourism and the health of our ecosystems.

Of all this waste, plastic is one constituent to particularly look out for, not only because it is the predominant and most persistent fraction of litter found in the sea, but in recent years it has been discovered that ‘microplastics' (millimetric plastic pieces resulting mainly from the fragmentation of larger items) end up in the marine food chain and thus also raise concerns for human health. It is estimated that several millions of tons of mismanaged plastic waste enter the oceans every year.[1]

The Copernicus Sentinel satellites provide a wealth of measurements that can be used to track the fate of marine litter by charting the ocean surface currents and providing data that is assimilated by ocean model systems. The Sentinel-3 altimeter estimates ocean currents using its powerful radar altimeter whereas Sentinel-1 measures ocean surface waves using its radar imager. Other parameters include sea surface temperature (Sentinel-3) and biogeochemical information from ocean colour instruments (Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3). The ESA GlobCurrent project (http://globcurrent.org) brings all of these data together with historical records to provide the best estimate of ocean surface currents to help us understand where litter accumulates.

A newly issued tender under the General Studies Programme called "Remote Sensing for Marine Litter" has been called to explore how future remote sensing instruments could be used to actively monitor marine litter. The available satellite instruments of today are capable of monitoring larger items of floating litter but they do not provide sensors capable of measuring concentrations of smaller items from space. Existing ground-based collection systems are very limited and cannot answer some fundamental questions (e.g. related to the marine litter concentrations and spatial and temporal dynamics).

This study will define target marine litter applications based on a review of the problem. It will also involve experimental/modelling activities to define the requirements for the remote sensing of plastic marine litter. Working with the best engineers in Europe, potential measuring techniques and the technology needed to develop a suitable remote sensing system will then be derived. Improved understanding of the concentrations and distribution of marine litter can be used to support decision makers by helping in identifying where and how litter is entering our seas, if measures to prevent it are working and even to better target cleaning operations.

Special thanks to Joana Mira Veiga (Deltares) for fruitful discussions on the topic of Marine Litter.

Oceans play a fundamental role in sustaining life on our planet. Apart from being central in regulating Earth's climate, oceans provide food and other goods to humans and animals, as well as shipping routes for transport of goods and people.

A major problem is related to the rapidly increasing amount of waste found in our oceans, referred to as "marine litter". Marine litter affects not only wildlife and habitats, but it also has considerable economic impacts on coastal communities, tourism and the health of our ecosystems.

Of all this waste, plastic is one constituent to particularly look out for, not only because it is the predominant and most persistent fraction of litter found in the sea, but in recent years it has been discovered that ‘microplastics' (millimetric plastic pieces resulting mainly from the fragmentation of larger items) end up in the marine food chain and thus also raise concerns for human health. It is estimated that several millions of tons of mismanaged plastic waste enter the oceans every year.[1]

The Copernicus Sentinel satellites provide a wealth of measurements that can be used to track the fate of marine litter by charting the ocean surface currents and providing data that is assimilated by ocean model systems. The Sentinel-3 altimeter estimates ocean currents using its powerful radar altimeter whereas Sentinel-1 measures ocean surface waves using its radar imager. Other parameters include sea surface temperature (Sentinel-3) and biogeochemical information from ocean colour instruments (Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3). The ESA GlobCurrent project (http://globcurrent.org) brings all of these data together with historical records to provide the best estimate of ocean surface currents to help us understand where litter accumulates.

A newly issued tender under the General Studies Programme called "Remote Sensing for Marine Litter" has been called to explore how future remote sensing instruments could be used to actively monitor marine litter. The available satellite instruments of today are capable of monitoring larger items of floating litter but they do not provide sensors capable of measuring concentrations of smaller items from space. Existing ground-based collection systems are very limited and cannot answer some fundamental questions (e.g. related to the marine litter concentrations and spatial and temporal dynamics).

This study will define target marine litter applications based on a review of the problem. It will also involve experimental/modelling activities to define the requirements for the remote sensing of plastic marine litter. Working with the best engineers in Europe, potential measuring techniques and the technology needed to develop a suitable remote sensing system will then be derived. Improved understanding of the concentrations and distribution of marine litter can be used to support decision makers by helping in identifying where and how litter is entering our seas, if measures to prevent it are working and even to better target cleaning operations.

Special thanks to Joana Mira Veiga (Deltares) for fruitful discussions on the topic of Marine Litter.

Latest articles

Quick access to space, high-speed data feed and a unique vantage point are the selling points of a new commercial venture on the International Space Station. Its name is Bartolomeo, and its versatile design allows for many mission types at competitive prices from next year.

Living near a star is risky business, and positioning a spacecraft near the Sun is a very good way to observe rapidly changing solar activity and deliver early warning of possibly harmful space weather. ESA is now looking at doing just that.

ESA’s first mission of the year was launched today: GomX-4B is the Agency’s most advanced technology-tester yet, featuring a hyperspectral camera and tiny thrusters to manoeuvre thousands of kilometres from its near-twin to try out their radio link.

Simple yet efficient: intensive jumping might be a panacea for strong bones, muscles and hearts. A European study has confirmed the benefits of making giant leaps not only for astronauts, but also for elderly and sedentary people.

Most-viewed articles

Quick access to space, high-speed data feed and a unique vantage point are the selling points of a new commercial venture on the International Space Station. Its name is Bartolomeo, and its versatile design allows for many mission types at competitive prices from next year.

Living near a star is risky business, and positioning a spacecraft near the Sun is a very good way to observe rapidly changing solar activity and deliver early warning of possibly harmful space weather. ESA is now looking at doing just that.

ESA’s first mission of the year was launched today: GomX-4B is the Agency’s most advanced technology-tester yet, featuring a hyperspectral camera and tiny thrusters to manoeuvre thousands of kilometres from its near-twin to try out their radio link.

Simple yet efficient: intensive jumping might be a panacea for strong bones, muscles and hearts. A European study has confirmed the benefits of making giant leaps not only for astronauts, but also for elderly and sedentary people.

From the 30th January to the 2nd of February 2018, 16 University students completed a week of learning how to manage a project and build experiments for the Spin Your Thesis! Drop Your Thesis! and Fly Your Thesis! programmes at ESEC, in Redu, Belgium.

In just four days, a group of university students managed to prepare the preliminary design of a small satellite. The secret to their success was using the Concurrent Engineering method to speedily but effectively perform design iterations on the different subsystems and systems.

ESA is organising its 9th Summer Teacher Workshop from 10 to 13 July 2018, as well as its 4th Autumn Teacher Workshop from 4to 7 October 2018. Both workshops will take place in the Netherlands and are dedicated to European primary and secondary school teachers.

The deadline to apply for both workshops is Wednesday21 March 09:00 CET.

ESA is thrilled to announce the location and organiser of the 2018 European CanSat launch campaign: the competition will be hosted by the Regional Fund for Science and Technology (FRCT) on the island of Santa Maria, Azores (Portugal), in collaboration with local partners.

The next Alpbach Summer School will be held from 17 to 26 July 2018, and will focus on “Sample return from small Solar System bodies“. University students and young graduates have until 31 March 2018 to apply.